Categories

Agile

I have come to dislike “agile vs waterfall” discussions. “Agile vs waterfall” is a false dipole which leads to confusion about agile. The term “waterfall” is simply a description of a problematic, default approach to developing software.

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about standardization of Agile methodologies, and while some of the discussion may be well-intended, I feel the trend isn’t a healthy direction for the Agile movement. My concern is that it reveals a reverence for manufacturing which doesn’t help teams and managers when implementing Agile practices.

Recently I stumbled into a conversation with a client about the virtues of smaller stories when analyzing and estimating work. One business consultant asked a the question, “Have you found that there is confusion around people thinking that because a story should have business value and be independent that this means it is essentially impossible to break things down smaller than a minimum marketable feature?”

Over the last couple of days I have been putting together a position paper for the Simple Design And Testing Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. This will be the first year I attend that event, and I’m looking forward to it. The open space format sounds like a ton of fun and I look forward to some really fascinating discussions.

Does writing formal story cards feel hokey? Although they may seem ceremonious, well-formatted story cards add critical value to the software development process. In this essay I’ve broken down the aspects and features I like to use/see on story cards…

Some great estates provide, but do not breed
A mast'ring mind; so both are lost thereby:
Or else they breed them tender, make them need
All that they leave: this is flat poverty.
For he, that needs five thousand pound to live,
Is full as poor as he, that needs but five.